Makah Tribe police chief says he will resign after federal warning

The Interior Department has told the tribe that keeping Police Chief Lionel Ahdunko on the job would violate the tribe's agreement for funding.

"We believe it's best not to have a convicted felon for a police chief," said Bill Sinclair, director of the Interior Department's Office of Self Governance. "I think it definitely sends the wrong signal."

After learning of the federal move, Ahdunko told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Wednesday night: "I can't allow that. Tonight, I did officially tender my resignation."

He offered his resignation at a Makah community meeting Wednesday held to update the community on the progress of the tribe's gray-whale hunting effort.

"We haven't gotten the resignation yet," tribal chairman Ben Johnson said Thursday.

He said the tribe planned to question Interior officials about the threatened withholding of funding.

Earlier Wednesday, tribal member Keith Johnson, chairman of the Makah whaling commission, said the tribe backed Ahdunko.

"He has been doing a fantastic job," Johnson said. At the most recent Makah community meeting, Johnson said, "there was overwhelming support for our (police) chief."

Ahdunko pleaded guilty April 26 in Reno, Nev., to falsely reporting details of a traffic accident and stealing a government rifle when he worked for the Washoe tribe in Nevada. He was fired in 1997 and went to work in Neah Bay.

He has been a key figure in controlling protesters who are trying to stop the Makah in their attempt to kill a gray whale. Johnson said that in the current atmosphere of protest, "if there is a blemish that can be magnified, it will be."

Anti-whaling protesters made an issue of Ahdunko's Nevada record last fall, when the Makah first took to sea to hunt.

Ahdunko said he would stay in Neah Bay to see the hunt through.

"I may not be carrying my badge, but I will be there assisting my fellow community members," he said.

The tribe governs itself but if Ahdunko is retained, the matter probably will be referred to the director of law enforcement services, said Tom Shirilla, head of Interior's regional office in Vancouver.

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